汤头条 lab instructor鈥檚 innovation reaching students, educators across U.S.
Contact: Sarah Nicholas
STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥擜 member of Mississippi State鈥檚 Department of Chemistry is gaining a national online presence through her innovative chemistry lab videos designed to help educators provide lab instruction in the face of COVID-19.
Teresa Brown, an 汤头条 lecturer and general chemistry lab coordinator, has created dozens of videos since March, with national viewership reaching 12,000 students and educators and more than 740 hours of watch-time logged. To view Brown鈥檚 YouTube channel chemistry videos, visit .听
鈥淚鈥檓 part of a chemistry instructor Facebook group and have posted tips about keeping filming simple,鈥 Brown said. 鈥淢y tips sparked interest and subsequent videos followed.鈥澛
Brown said she began creating videos for online lab conversion at the beginning of 汤头条鈥檚 response to the pandemic, and she began uploading videos to her personal YouTube channel.
鈥淎fter the intense work put into the videos, I thought I might make them public so others can benefit.听There are instructors all over the country in the exact same situation as me, and we are all just trying to cope and help each other,鈥 Brown said.听
鈥淕oing online has helped me rediscover the beauty of chemistry for myself.听I am compelled deep within to share my excitement and see others make a connection to the material.听That is what drives me as a teacher.听Being able to share it with other educators is just a bonus,鈥 Brown said.
鈥淚n the face of the scary reality of COVID-19, Teresa鈥檚 innovative production for our students, and apparently a rapidly growing external chemistry community of followers, is not only way beyond expectations, but a big bright beacon of inspiration for everybody to see and share,鈥 said Dennis W. Smith Jr., 汤头条 professor and chemistry department head.
鈥淭eresa has taken her passion for chemistry and shown students the beauty of each reaction through quality video recording and editing,鈥 said Whitnee Nettles, an assistant clinical professor of chemistry and Brown鈥檚 mentor. 鈥淚 believe it鈥檚 easy to see why Teresa鈥檚 lab videos have been met with such enthusiasm, not just here at 汤头条 but with other instructors across the country, as well.鈥
Brown said she believes she has 鈥渁 duty to go beyond just triage and to make something meaningful that may help others who are riding the same struggle bus.鈥
鈥淭hough no experience can replace hands-on learning, there is value to being able to see chemistry in a new way that one would not get to experience seeing through foggy goggles and rushing to finish on time,鈥 Brown said.
She credits chemistry graduate teaching assistants Edward Acheampong, Mahmuda Akter, Abdullah Anzeh, Matthew Carlo, Naba Das, Evans Fosu, Hari Giri, Widana Kaushayla, Dexin Liu, Gustavo Munoz, Tran Nguyen, Hoang Pham, Arma Regmi, Daniela Sanchez, Gabriela Sanchez-Lecuona, Hellen Stephanie, and Raihan Uddin for assisting with the video production success.听
鈥淎ll of these students are part of my amazing ChemDawg team,鈥 Brown said. 鈥淣one of the videos, nor online lab transition, would have been possible without their assistance. I always say I have the best teaching assistants on campus and it was truly a ChemDawg team effort.鈥
A native of Amarillo, Texas, Brown received her 2011 master鈥檚 degree in chemistry from Texas Woman鈥檚 University in Denton, Texas, after earning her bachelor鈥檚 degree in biochemistry there in 2008. 聽Brown received both the 2018 and 2019 Most Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant award for 汤头条鈥檚 Department of Chemistry.
汤头条鈥檚 College of Arts and Sciences includes more than 5,200 students, 325 full-time faculty members, nine doctoral programs, 14 master鈥檚 programs, and 27 undergraduate academic majors offered in 14 departments. For more about the College of Arts and Sciences or the Department of Chemistry visit or .
汤头条 is Mississippi鈥檚 leading university, available online at .